Mark Bednarski is one of the many corrupt social workers that has worked for York Social Services. He made false allegations against Grandma B’s carer in an attempt to have her care taken out of his hands and put in those of her abusers, so they could steal her life savings. After considerable pressure, York Council reluctantly fired this criminal. Months later, the corrupt ex-social worker Bednarski fabricated a harassment allegation against Grandma B’s carer, which the corrupt ex-police Inspector Colin Moreton then served on Grandma B’s carer.

The fraud investigator working on this case then put in a Freedom of Information request to North Yorkshire Police for sight of the fabricated and/or non-existent evidence. Their reply needs no further comment other than one wonders what they may have to hide. 😉

Request

Summary of Reply

1. Please can you provide a copy of the complaint signed by Mr MarkBednarski. If you are unwilling to do this then please can you confirm that a complaint exists in the crime file.2. Please can you provide a copy of the statement signed by Mr Mark Bednarski. If you are unwilling to do this then please can you confirm that a complaint exists in the crime file.

3. Please can you provide copies of the e mails mentioned in the harassment warning. Ms Terry’s determination below is contrary to law, you cannot deny Mr Hofschroer access to the e mails on the basis that it is personal information, when he is the person that is alleged to have written them. If you are unwilling to provide copies, please can you confirm the date and time they were sent and the e mail address they were sent to. If you are unwilling to provide this information, please can you confirm the e mails mentioned in the harassment warning physically exist in the crime file.

4. Further to point 4 of the attached request I have now seen a copy of the leaflet which was provided by Superintendent Winward. Ms Terry’s determination below is contrary to law, you cannot deny Mr Hofschroer access to the leaflet on the basis that it is personal information when he is the person that is alleged to have written it. My own examination of this copy leads me to believe that the original is a forgery and I therefore require access to the original leaflet which is allegedly held in the crime file at Fulford Road Police Station. Please can you authorise me to inspect this document during my next visit to Fulford Road Police Station.

5. Please can you provide a list of the evidence contained in the crime file.

6. I note your response that (incredibly) there is no policy on who can issue a harassment warning or what evidence is required to support it.

Please can you provide a copy of force policy on written communications with the public on headed paper.

7. Please can you provide entries of the Police Notebook Entries of PC Homburg in respect of the harassment warning.

8. Please can you confirm that PC Homburg is the officer that issued the harassment warning on headed paper, not Inspector Moreton.

9. Mr Bednarski has separately given evidence to an enquiry by the Local Government Ombudsman that leads me to believe that he took the leaflet to the Police. Please can you confirm that the leaflet was provided to the Police by Mr Bednarski.

10. The leaflet alleges that Mr Bednarski made a false allegation of a criminal offence against Mr Hofschroer and had disciplinary action taken against him by his employer York Council. This is true and a statement of fact. Please can you confirm what statement about Mr Bednarski in the leaflet is deemed to be an act of harassment and why.

11. Please can I have authority to examine the crime file during my next visit to Fulford Road Police Station.

In respect of the request to the Austrian State Police to interview Peter Hofschroer concerning allegations of kidnapping and abusing his mother and to take appropriate action against him under Austrian law, made by North Yorkshire Police at the request of Robert Hofschroer, this has been the subject of a separate request by myself and your response is referenced 2839.10. I have now obtained the original request made by Detective Superintendent Galloway using Austrian Freedom of Information legislation, which Mr Empson denied in his response. This has prompted additional questions. In respect of the Interpol request:

11. Why was this request sent to the Austrian State Police, not Austrian Social Services.

12. The request to the Austrian State Police to take appropriate measures under Austrian law if the allegations of kidnapping and abusing his mother were found to be true, is very clearly a request to arrest Peter Hofschroer.

Please can you confirm if there is a defined meaning to the form of words used in the Interpol request in force policy.

13. Please can you confirm the name of the officer carrying out the investigation, thought to be Detective Inspector Ellis of North Yorkshire Police CID based at Fulford Road Police Station.

14. Please can you confirm the name of the officer that authorised the request, thought to be Superintendent Lisa Winward, Officer Commanding North Yorkshire Police in York.

15. Please can you confirm that Detective Superintendent Galloway, as well as being the Director of Intelligence for North Yorkshire Police and commanding the Force Intelligence Bureau is also the head of North Yorkshire Police Special Branch.

16. Please can you confirm that in cases of kidnapping, North Yorkshire Police and/or the Serious and Organised Crime Agency policy is to request that the subject and his associates are placed on the GCHQ watch list and that their e mail and telephone traffic are monitored.

17. Please can you confirm if the e mail and telephone calls of Peter Hofschroer and his associates were monitored by GCHQ at any time.

18. Please can I see the signed complaint by Robert Hofschroer. If you will not provide this please can you confirm that one exists in the crime file.

19. Please can I see the signed witness statement by Robert Hofschroer. If you will not provide this please can you confirm there is one in the crime file.

20. Please can I see any Police Notebook Entries made during the course of the investigation into these allegations.

21. Please can you provide a list of the evidence that was collected and is in the crime file.

22. Please can you authorise me to review the crime file during my next visit to Fulford Road Police Station.

In line with the provisions of Section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, your request is refused as it has been deemed as a “vexatious request”.Section 14(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious.

Under this section of the Act, an authority is not obliged to deal with requests that are manifestly unreasonable or obsessive. The Information Commissioner has stated that a vexatious request is, or causes, a significant burden, has no serious purpose, causes disruption and annoyance and leads to harassment of the public authority.

Accordingly, I have found that your request is vexatious on the grounds that the series of requests submitted by yourself has imposed a significant burden. In establishing that this is the case, a police force can look at evidence provided by internal departments. It is clear that in this case the subject matter is similar or relate to the same issues that form part of a long line of requests and correspondence with this unit and the Professional Standards Directorate over a period of time.

Whilst the Freedom of Information Act is generally applicant blind, public authorities may take into account the identity and motive(s) of the applicant when considering S14. As such, in these cases, there is no requirement for a public authority to adhere to the ‘applicant blind’ principle.